The Other Me: Chapter Three
WRITTEN: 1 June 2012 'PART ONE: LILY' Chapter Three: The Crawler's Attack It had begun. The Crawler's forces had arrived in Bowerstone. Lily stood in Bowerstone Market’s town square next to Logan with Ben, Walter and Albion guards and soldiers. They watched as black puddles of darkness and corruption began to appear before shadows appeared and began their attack. 'Charge!' Logan bellowed, raising his hammer and pointing it at the advancing enemies. 'Defend the city with your lives!' Walter yelled to the soldiers and guards as he advanced upon the shadows. Lily ran passed him and straight into the middle of the small army of shadows in their section, jumping onto the shoulders of one, breaking its neck, before jumping off it, over another one and sending a fiery vortex at another group. She loved being able to use Will. Again and again Lily and Logan slaughtered the advancing shadows; Logan with their mother’s old hammer and Lily through the use of Will and occasionally her sword. Halfway through the slaughtering of the shadow quadrant, they heard a mighty growl echo around Bowerstone, startling what was left of the guards and soldiers. 'What was that?' one of the soldiers exclaimed. 'It's here! It's here!' Walter yelled, looking around for it. 'We have to find it. And we have to save our people!' 'Right,' said Logan, as Lily focused on her Will, before letting it out with a yell as she conjured another fiery vortex, giving them time to get away from the shadows, to search for the Crawler. 'Lily, do you think that it will appear in the same place you had to fight it?' asked Logan. 'There is a high probability that it will. Follow me!' she said, leading the way through the streets of Bowerstone. They knew when they were getting closer to the Crawler's location when its taunts became louder and more powerful. They were more successful with Logan, for as they were passing the Bowerstone general store, its voice echoed around the streets mockingly. 'Are you thinking of your loved ones now, your majesty?' it asked mockingly. 'How you will never see them again?' 'You're wrong! We will survive and see each other again!' Logan roared. Lily knew that he secretly feared what the Crawler said to be true. 'Just ignore it, Logan,' Lily said firmly. The Crawler laughed and a burning fire appeared in the general store windows. While Lily didn't pay the window any attention - something had been nagging her at the back of her mind for a while now and she had no idea what it was - Logan looked in there before letting out a scream as he saw Lillian and Page chained up in there screaming in pain and the fire burnt them. 'No!' Logan screamed, running to the entrance to get them out. 'No, Logan! Stop!' Ben yelled, grabbing Logan’s arms and trying to pull him back. 'It's an illusion!' 'Wh-what?' asked Logan, ceasing in his struggles. 'Ben is right, Logan,' Lily said quietly. 'It's trying to lead you into a trap by playing with your feelings. It did the same thing with me.' Anger flashed in Logan's green eyes. 'Let's end this now!' he growled. It was then that Lily suddenly realised why she was having déjà vu. She was basically reliving the attack of the Crawler in her time. There was no doubt in her mind what was about to happen next. She quickly hurried forward to catch up with Walter, Ben and Logan, to warn them of the Crawler’s trap. Unfortunately, she was too late. The moment Logan and Walter entered the entrance area to Bowerstone Market, blue, flaming-hot flames blocked off the main Bowerstone Market bridge, the road to Millfields, the street to We’ve Got Wood, the furniture shop, and stopped Lily and Ben getting to them from the street which held Gifts and Gumf, the general store. ‘Not again,’ Lily sighed sadly as Ben backed away from the flames. ‘It’s too hot! We can’t get through!’ Ben yelled to Logan who was now dodging the possessed Walter’s attacks. ‘Lily! Ben!’ Lily and Ben turned around and saw Page, Kalin and Sabine hurrying towards them. ‘Where’s Logan?’ Page asked urgently. ‘He’s over there,’ Lily replied in a hollow voice. ‘The Crawler’s possessed Walter and is trying to kill Logan.’ ‘We have to do something!’ Kalin exclaimed. ‘But what? The flames are too hot for us to get through!’ Ben said furiously. ‘There is nothing you can do,’ Lily informed them. ‘It’s all up to Logan. He must kill Walter.’ ‘What?’ ‘It’s the only way.’ Lily turned her eyes towards the figures of Logan and Walter. ‘It can’t be!’ Page said angrily. ‘Logan will never be able to kill Walter.’ ‘Page is right,’ said Ben. ‘You didn’t see him in Aurora when Walter was on his death bed. He was a wreck. He kept saying that he would not be responsible for the death of another father.’ Lily looked quickly at Ben. ‘I never thought about it like that,’ she muttered. ‘I never thought to consider that he still felt guilty about taking Dad’s life even though it was his dying wish.’ ‘Logan had to do it in your world too?’ asked Sabine. ‘Yes, he did.’ For half an hour they all watched as Logan constantly dodged all of Walter’s attacks, and they saw that Logan was beginning to tire, while Walter’s attacks were becoming more accurate. ‘This can’t go on. If this keeps up, Logan will be killed,’ said a worried Sabine. Lily glanced at him, before looking at Logan. She knew that this Logan wasn’t strong enough to kill Walter. This Logan wasn’t able to close his heart like her Logan, their father and herself. She now understood why she needed to be here and why she needed to help in this war. Taking a deep breath, Lily jumped through the fire barrier, with Ben, Page, Sabine and Kalin’s startled cries behind her. To say that the fire hurt would be an understatement. Lily had never felt so much physical pain in her life. The fire pierced her skin and she let out an agonising scream as she passed through the barrier and landed painfully on the other side as her raw skin skidded against the hard stone street. Holding back tears, Lily managed to get to her knees – she was in too much pain to stand up – and summoned the power of fire once more. It broke her heart having to do it a second time, but she had no choice. She knew that he would understand… they both would. As a sob escaped her mouth, she sent a fiery spear at Walter’s back. It hit her target. She closed her eyes and cried. She did not want to see Walter’s death again. Thankfully, Fate decided to be nice to her by allowing her to fall into darkness, unaware of everything going on around her. Lily awoke to someone carefully pouring some foul tasting healing potion into her mouth before massaging her throat to make her swallow it. She did so semi-reluctantly as she slowly opened her eyes. She noticed that she was in Lillian’s room with a worried Logan hovering above her. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked when he saw she was awake. His red eyes were full of worry and relief. Lily knew that he had been crying. ‘Now that my wounds have healed, I am,’ Lily replied as she examined her healed skin. She only had a few scars. ‘That wasn’t what I was talking about,’ Logan said seriously. Lily didn’t have to ask what he meant. ‘I’m okay. While it was hard, I knew that it was necessary,’ she replied quietly. ‘It’s just like what you did for Dad.’ ‘He asked me to thank you for freeing him.’ Lily nodded. ‘I only wish there had been another way.’ ‘It happened in your time too, didn’t it? You had to… free him too. That’s why you were so shocked to see him when you first came here.’ ‘Yes. Yes it is.’ ‘I’m sorry. You are stronger than I’ll ever be.’ Logan sighed. ‘I guess you’ll be going back now, huh.’ ‘I guess so.’ Lily then grinned at him. ‘Look on the bright side. Dealing with Lillian should be a piece of cake compared to the Crawler.’ ‘I doubt it. She’s as deadly as the Crawler. She has no one to worry about, preventing her from doing whatever she wants.’ ‘How long has she been like that?’ Lily asked curiously. ‘She began to change when she saw me take Dad’s life.’ ‘Was she close to him?’ Lily asked. Her mouth had suddenly become dry. ‘Yes, she was a Daddy’s Girl,’ Logan said glumly. ‘Mum died when she was born, meaning we only had Dad to raise us.’ He looked at Lily. ‘Are you alright? You look like you are about to cry.’ ‘She went with the Royal Court’s decision to have you executed, didn’t she?’ she asked. ‘How -?’ ‘That is how these two worlds were created, Logan. It was based on my choice! Lillian was blinded by grief and ordered for your execution, creating this world, while I managed to look past my grief and saw that my brother was telling the truth, hence, creating my world.’ ‘Your Logan is a lucky guy,’ Logan sighed. ‘I’d love to have his life, having the relationship he seems to have with you; with a sister.’ ‘Believe me, we still fight a lot,’ Lily chuckled. ‘But you don’t try to kill each other, though.’ ‘True, though I think the Court wants me too, as they’ve put him on trial twice.’ ‘I better watch my back them.’ He absently looked around the room and frowned. It had changed. ‘What happened to Lillian’s room?’ Lily looked around the room and leapt out of bed. ‘This isn’t her room, but mine!’ she exclaimed. ‘What did she do to it?’ she added as she saw that it was in the middle of being renovated. ‘I think I’d be more concerned about what she’s done to your kingdom rather than your room,’ Logan commented while wondering why he was now in Lily’s universe. ‘Come with me!’ Lily said, now filled with anxiety, as she ran out of her room and headed for the throne room. Logan was hot on her heels. Minutes later, they flung open the throne room’s doors, startling those within. Lily’s eyes widened when she saw Logan kneeling on the ground, looking as though he had been serverely tortured. Her brother’s eyes widened with shock, and confusion, when he saw her and another Logan. Lily’s eyes then travelled over her godfather's shocked facial expression, before looking over at Sabine, Kalin, Elliot and Page, who were chained together. Finally her eyes fell upon the young woman sitting on the throne. She had long, silky, straight, black hair, skin that resembled a vampire’s dead white skin, and eyes that were blacker than the darkest corner of the universe that held no love. Lily immediately knew who she was and Logan soon confirmed it. ‘Lillian,’ he said coldly.